Communicating about Public Health with Policymakers

This toolkit was developed to help public health professionals communicate more effectively with policymakers.

Public health professionals must communicate effectively with policymakers because they are the decision-makers who allocate resources, set priorities, and create the policies that determine community health outcomes. State and local policymakers are particularly influential in these areas.

But communicating about public health with policymakers is challenging for several reasons. Often, the tangible benefits of public health investments—which tend to be long term and preventive—can feel "invisible" to policymakers who are looking for short-term wins. The current climate provides even more challenges: previously common-sense public health efforts have become politicized, polarized, and fraught with misinformation. To help overcome these challenges, this toolkit includes practical guidance that can help explain important issues to policymakers and motivate them to support policy solutions. It includes audience insights, a message formula for communicating with policymakers, examples of public health initiatives, message "do's" and "don'ts", recommendations for enlisting credible messengers, and tips for engaging with policymakers.